Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Cristina Fernández de Kirchner 2016 Power Women List: Dropoff President, Argentina Bachelor of Arts / Science, National University of La Plata Cristina Fernández de Kirchner on Forbes Lists #16 Power Women (2015) #19 in 2014 Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was in hot water at the start of the year when a special prosecutor charged her with covering up an agreement between her country and Iran to speed up an investigation into the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. The charges were dropped in March, but the accusations and later, the prosecutor's death from a gunshot wound to the head, have caused an uproar in Argentina. While things started off rocky for the leader of the country with a GDP of $485 billion, she spent last year making strides to increase Russia's influence in Latin America. Kirchner and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed deals in the summer of the 2014 that would put a third nuclear power plant and bases for satellite systems in Argentina.

Kirchner, who is the second female president of the country, has been in power since December 2007 and was previously the Argentine senator for the Buenos Aires province. More » More On Forbes Rocky road ahead for Argentine leader over Nisman case - BBC News BBC News Wyre Davies Rio de Janeiro correspondent 18 February 2015 Close share panel Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was first elected in 2007 and won a second term in 2011 Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has been president of Argentina since 2007 but this, the last year of her presidency, is undoubtedly the most difficult period she has yet had to face. Cristina, as most people here colloquially call their president, is occasionally flamboyant and is naturally politically combative. At times like this she seems loved and loathed in almost equal measure. Her supporters are fiercely loyal to the woman they see as continuing the Peronist tradition, the Argentine political movement based on the legacy of former president Juan Domingo Peron. The president's public appearances are few and far between and she certainly does not trust the country's independent media.

'One of us' When she does appear for the cameras, most notably addressing the nation from the Casa Rosada - the presidential palace in Buenos Aires - there is invariably a loud, energetic throng of Peronist supporters singing and chanting her name from the courtyard below. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The president has a core group of loyal supporters A wealthy woman, the basis of her support nevertheless comes from the working class areas of the capital and Argentina's provincial cities. In a country where the economy seems perpetually on a rollercoaster of highs and lows, her government's welfare programmes and price controls are popular here. "She's one of us, a flag-bearing militant for the Peronist movement. She stands for social justice and economic independence," says Victoria, a young campaigner and party worker I met in one of the capital's villas miserias, or shantytowns. With elections due later this year, the Justicialist Party the president is part of is working hard, providing support in poorer migrant areas. Personality cult Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner leads the party's left-wing Front for Victory faction and is adored here.

There is nothing quite like Argentine politics and, to be more specific, the Peronist phenomenon, as I witnessed in a bar called Peron, Peron. The bar, dedicated to the founders of the movement, Juan Domingo Peron and his wife, Eva, is a living shrine to the former first couple. Image caption Pictures of Juan Domingo Peron and his wife Eva adorn the facade of the Peron Peron bar in Buenos Aires Image caption The inside boasts more images of the former first couple Image caption But the current president also feature heavily on the walls of the bar Their images are everywhere, there are brands of beer named after them and their speeches are repeated ad nauseam over its speaker system. But there is undoubtedly a personality cult centred on the current president herself. There are almost as many pictures in the bar of her and her late husband Nestor Kirchner, as there are of Juan Domingo Peron and his flamboyant first lady, fondly remembered as Evita. Whether or not the president now sees herself as the mother of the nation, a new Evita, it is not a comparison she does much to dispel.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Supporters of the president like to compare her to Evita Peron Image caption Banners showing both their pictures and reading "united and organised" can often be spotted at rallies And, in these times of trouble, it is one she increasingly appears to be clinging to. Not far away, at the Eva Peron museum, I met historian and guide, Santiago Regelo. We walked past display after display, heralding Eva Peron's contribution to Argentine society before her early death from cancer. "Every time you have Cristina in an announcement or a speech, you can see that behind her you have a picture of Evita. This is not just a coincidence," says Mr Regelo. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Eva Peron has her own museum dedicated to her life and work in Buenos Aires Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A collection of her letters and photographs are on display as well as documentaries from the era Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The president is often seen speaking in front of large pictures of Eva Peron "To be connected to Evita is to be connected to a very important part of our society.

They are both very important leaders of our nation." 'Detached' As the situation in Argentina has worsened in the last year, economically and politically, critics say that the president has become increasingly detached. She has been struck down by bouts of occasionally serious illness and, say her critics, has become convinced that her political enemies are plotting against her. Image copyright Reuters Image caption Argentines have been taking to the streets to demand "justice for Nisman" The still unexplained death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was found shot dead in his apartment on 18 January, has highlighted how intertwined the judicial system and politics have become in Argentina. Successive governments, not just this one, stand accused of meddling in the legal process. Mr Nisman was investigating the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural centre in which 85 people died. His death, which came just hours before he was due to give details of his findings to a congressional committee, triggered fevered speculation. Rather than allowing the investigation into Mr Nisman's death to run its natural, independent course, the president publically criticised and vilified key people in the case, including witnesses and former colleagues of the dead prosecutor.

Damage control On the other hand, many say that Mr Nisman's report into the 1994 bombing was an overwhelmingly political document rather than one based on legal argument. Image copyright Reuters Image caption The 1994 bomb attack demolished the seven-storey Amia Jewish cultural centre building Days before his death, Mr Nisman had accused the president of plotting to cover up Iran's alleged role in the bombing. The president and her officials vehemently denied the allegations. But the president's move of portraying herself as the victim of a plot and showing little sympathy for the dead prosecutor's family backfired. With only about 10 months left in office, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner will probably survive any attempt to impeach her over Alberto Nisman's report into the 1994 bombing. But the episode has damaged her support and credibility. If she is to emulate her heroine Evita Peron and be remembered as more than a footnote in the country's turbulent political history, the Argentine leader has a lot of ground to recover in the coming months.

Cristina Kirchner | The Plaid Avenger The Plaid Avenger Years Left in Office: To 2015; no re-election possible Political Classification: Center-left Education: MS, PhD in Law Age: 63 (born February 19, 1953) Cristina Kirchner Facts and Information Important Points Cristina Kirchner is Argentina’s first elected female president. She has been president for two terms, and her second term ends in 2015. While she has been in office, same sex marriage became legal in Argentina which put it as the first Latin American country to do so and 10th in the world. She was married to former President Nestor Kirchner who passed away in 2010. The peso has lost a lot of value since she has been in office. The Rundown “Don’t cry for me Argentina!” was a song written in 1978 for the musical Evita based on the life of a famous female political figure in Argentine history, Eva Peron. However, Eva Peron is the old leading lady in the history of Argentina…the new star of this whole show is Cristina Elisabet Fernandez de Kirchner.

Cristina, (as she is called by many Argentines, because they are cool like that and are on a first-named basis) was elected president of Argentina in 2007. She was born Cristina Elisabet Fernandez on February 19, 1953 in La Plata which is in Buenos Aires, a city in Argentina. She met her husband in 1975 in law school in La Plata and they got married. She became Cristina Elisabet Fernandez de Kirchner. In Latin American culture, when a woman gets married, she keeps her full maiden name, but adds the “de” and her husband’s last name. (The formula: First name, Middle Name, Maiden name + de + Husband’s last name). Now you may wonder why going in to detail about her husband’s name is important when we are talking about our little leading lady, well, this couple was no ordinary couple. Cristina married Nestor Kirchner who in 2003 became the president of Argentina. Cristina. While Nestor was president, Cristina not only took to being First Lady, but she also took political power by becoming a senator in Argentina while her husband was in power.

Not only was she able to support her husband as a wife, but she was able to support him politically. This was not the first time that they had worked together politically. In 1991 Nestor became governor of Santa Cruz and as governor; he had Cristina as his deputy. Being that both of these people had power, and they were a strong couple…they were fondly known in Argentina as their own “Power Couple”. Power in this couple shifted when Nestor decided not to run for reelection in 2007, but supported Cristina in running for president in 2007. She has been the only person in Argentina who has held political office while running for a presidential election. She ran against Hilda Gonzalez who had also been a first lady in Argentina (her husband, Eduardo Duhlde). This rivalry was known as “The Wives Duel”. Cristina ran as the candidate of the Justicialist party (also known as the Peronist party). She won with 45% of the votes and won in October of 2007. She was officially in office in December of 2007 as the 55th president of Argentina.

Fortunately, Nestor was able to see his wife go from First Lady to president of all 41 million people who live in Argentine. He passed away from a heart attack on October 28 2010. Cristina Kirchner ran for reelection in 2011 and won, showing the world that not only as a woman could she become president, but she could do it TWICE. She has been on Forbes’ list of 25 most powerful women in the world a few times. This year, in 2014 she is number 19 at age 61. Since the start of her presidency, Kirchner has continued the policies that her husband started during his term. Cristina was the first female president to be elected, Evita Peron was also president of Argentina but she became president after being Vice President when her husband passed away. As president, Cristina has changed a few things. One of the more well-known things that she has changed was that Argentina became the first country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage, also being the 10th country to do this in the world.

Also under her term, she brought the Argentine economy up from its rough times in the early 2000s but there is still high inflation and poverty still exists in this country. She has also had conflicts with the agricultural sector in Argentina which is pretty powerful. She has also renewed contracts with the International Monetary Fund and also started to negotiate payments to cover Argentina’s debts to the Paris Club of Lender Nations. This is important because overall…Argentina is not doing so great, especially economically. This is to try to repair things. Argentina has tried to prevent depreciation from powering inflation expectations and interest rates have gone up. These wage negotiations will really show how serious Argentina’s government is about controlling spending. About 100 years ago Argentina was rich…but it was not modern. The educational system was not great because everyone focused more on agricultural things than furthering education, which in turn would have helped Argentina with technology and advancing more. That being said, Argentina not being modern meant that any external shake ups were hard and it meant that it lacked institutions to create effective policies. World War I was when Argentina’s economy received its first blow and since then there has been an ongoing division between farmers and workers.

And under what has been known as “The Kirchner Era” Argentina was the world’s fourth largest exporter of wheat in 2006 (Nestor’s time) but since then, in 2013 they dropped to number 10. Besides the wheat exportation numbers dropping, other things have gone downhill in Argentina, unfortunately due to the leadership under Cristina. In 2005 during her husband’s term, the GDP had a surplus of 2% and in 2013, under Cristina, it became about 2% deficit. Poor Cristina has tried a few things to fix everything, but unfortunately they haven’t been fully effective. In 2011 she issued controls on how many pesos could be converted into dollars by citizens. This led to a pretty successful black market for currency transactions and made people lose faith in the government’s economic policies. The biggest problems in Argentina can be pinpointed to being inflation and insecurity. In January of 2014, the peso’s value went down by 15% in two days. She is also pretty decent friends with Hugo Chavez who is not exactly a big friend of the West.

In the past he had an alliance with Nestor Kirchner which really did help their governments in hard times when Argentina was trying to recover from an economic collapse of a decade ago. Chavez has been at the front of the leftist and anti-American populist wave in that region. In 2012 when Chavez won his reelection Cristina stated that it was not only a victory for Hugo Chavez but also for Argentina, Chavez echoed that sentiment. The IMF…does not. The IMF does not have a great opinion of Argentina. It stopped really being of help to Argentina in 2001 when things were not going so well in Argentina. All of this has gone against Cristina in her hopes to change the constitution in order to be able to run for a third term, but being that most people do not believe that things will get any better until the next election and a new president, Cristina would not have really any high hopes of winning had she been able to run for a third term. But, do not lose all faith in Cristina! In 2012 there was compensation for Pepsol which became nationalized (it is an oil company), new inflation data that was credible, and there were cuts in water and gas subsidies.

Also it does not hurt to be friends with the Pope! Poor Cristina has been through a lot and in November of 2013 she had to go through cranial surgery to remove a blood clot that was on the surface of her brain (called the dura). Having been through that, she decided she was not going to sit back and become a lame duck, she wants to power through to the end of her term and try to get as much done as she can to turn things around even though the majority does not think she can do it. She also realized with the cranial surgery that she does not want to risk having the same fate as her late husband, and wants to make more time to spend with her family, which in the end really does make her just human. If someone does not put their health and loved ones first, before everything else, there are going to be problems in all the other aspects of their life. Hopefully this change will help Cristina until the end of her term!

Photos Argentina's President Fernandez announces plans to seek re-election - CNN.com Argentina's President Fernandez announces plans to seek re-election By the CNN Wire Staff STORY HIGHLIGHTS Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has been president since 2007 She says she is announcing her candidacy to end speculation Her husband, former President Nestor Kirchner, died last year Buenos Aires, Argentina (CNN) -- Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced plans to run for re-election Tuesday. Fernandez said she decided to make her plans public to put an end to widespread speculation and stop rumors. "I wanted to be closer to the end of the sign-up period to be able to announce it," she said. "But really, over the weekend, I said, 'enough.'" Fernandez has been the South American country's president since 2007. Her husband, Nestor Kirchner, who was president from 2003 to 2007, died last year. "That threw the political scenario really open in Argentina," said Jennifer McCoy, director of the Americas Program at the Atlanta-based Carter Center and a professor of political science at Georgia State University, in an interview last year.

That "will most likely bring out a number of competitors that may not have come out if he were still living with the possibility of running himself," she said. CNN's Rafael Romo contributed to this report. Share this on: Argentina: Maps, History, Geography, Government, Culture, Facts, Guide & Travel/Holidays/Cities Marci Wins Presidential Runoff President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Easily Wins Second Term On October 23, 2011, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was easily re-elected for a second term. Her victory came just two years after her approval rating fell below 30 percent due to her unpopular combative leadership style, which came under scrutiny during a dispute over agricultural export taxes. However, Argentina is currently undergoing an economic boom despite economists' predictions that the plan put into place by Fernández's late husband, former President Néstor Kirchner, was doomed. That economic plan, which relies heavily on government subsidies, has been further orchestrated by President Fernández. Argentina's economy is expected to grow 8 percent in 2011, making it the fastest growing country in Latin America. Since 2007, the poverty rate has been cut by more than half.

The employment rate has reached record highs and the country's agricultural products are in strong demand from China. In this election, voters looked past red flags such as rising inflation. In 2010, inflation rose over 20 percent, second only to Venezuela in Latin America. Clearly what mattered most to voters was a booming economy. President Fernández won with 54 percent of the vote. Her closest opponent received 17 percent. With a margin of 37 percent, it was the widest victory since Argentina restored its democracy in 1983. In December 2011, a spokesman for President Fernández announced that she had thyroid cancer and would undergo surgery on January 4. During a televised address the spokesman said there was "no existence of metastasis." The announcement came less than two months after Fernández was re-elected to a new four-year term. In 2010, Argentina was shocked when Fernández's husband, the country's previous president, died of a heart attack at age 60. The news of Fernández's diagnosis also shook up a country that has long revered Eva "Evita" Peron, wife of legendary leader Juan Peron.

Peron died of cancer in 1952 at age 33. Like Eva Peron, Fernández is popular for her efforts to help the impoverished. President Fernández was one of several leaders in the region recently diagnosed with cancer. President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil was treated for lymphoma in 2009. In 2010, Paraguay's president, Fernando Lugo, was treated for non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Venezuela's Hugo Chávez underwent treatment for an undisclosed type of cancer in 2011. In early January 2012, President Fernández's surgery was carried out without complications, putting her on course to return to work as planned later in the month. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner: is the fairytale ending for Argentina's new Evita? | World news | The Guardian Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Cristina Fernández de Kirchner: is the fairytale ending for Argentina's new Evita?

Her supporters passionately proclaim their loyalty to Argentina’s first elected female leader, but a mysterious death threatens to bring her rule to a sour end Cristina Fernández de Kirchner talking to journalists at the presidential palace in Buenos Aires in December 2014. Photograph: Charly Diaz Azcue/LatinContent/Getty Images Uki Goñi in Buenos Aires Saturday 21 February 2015 07.44 EST First published on Friday 20 February 2015 08.31 EST Close This article is 1 year old Under a torrential downpour, hundreds of thousands of people marched in silence in Buenos Aires on Wednesday evening. Soaked to the bone, old and young alike held their ground to pay tribute to Alberto Nisman, the crusading prosecutor whose death under mysterious circumstances one month ago has created political turmoil with as yet unforeseeable consequences in Argentina. If such a massive and spontaneous display of respect for the man who dared accuse Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in court of attempting to cover up what he alleged was Iran’s role in the deadliest terrorist bombing in Argentina’s history grated on the mind of the president, she certainly did not show it.

“In the Chinese horoscope, I am a snake,” Fernández cheerfully posted on Twitter the next day, Thursday, which happened to be her 62nd birthday. Cristina Kirchner (@CFKArgentina) En el horóscopo chino soy serpiente. Cuando en la cena, en China, le comente al Presidente Xi Jinping y su esposa… Pinterest Alberto Nisman’s former wife, Sandra Arroyo Salgado, and their daughter Iara take part in the silent march. Photograph: Claudio Santisteban/Demotix/Corbis The march came days after Fernández learned she may face formal charges based on Nisman’s allegations that she derailed a criminal investigation into a 1994 attack on a Jewish cultural centre , which killed 85, in order to exonerate five Iranian suspects. Nisman’s 289-page criminal complaint was made public on 14 January. Four days later he was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in his Buenos Aires apartment. He had been due to present his findings to Congress the next day.

Nisman’s death may yet prematurely end her time in office, but Fernández’s life story to date reads like a fairytale. She was born in Tolosa, a suburb of the university town of La Plata, in Buenos Aires province, known as Barrio del Tambor (Suburb of Drums) for its Afro-Uruguayan carnivals held to the beat of colourful candombe troupes. Much has been made in recent biographies of a rumour that her father, Eduardo Fernández, a bus driver, moved in with her mother only once Fernández was a schoolgirl, suggesting that he was perhaps not her real father at all. These rumours have never been confirmed, but those who knew her back then say her parents had a strained relationship, punctuated by political disagreements. He was an anti-Peronist, she was a devotee of Eva Perón. Eduardo died 33 years ago. Fernández has seldom if ever referred to him in public. At age 22, studying law at the University of La Plata, she met a young student from the faraway Patagonian town of Río Gallegos who swept her off her feet.

Within six months she had married Néstor Kirchner. That young love proved extraordinarily hardy and provided a solid foundation for what was to be the most important political marriage in Argentina since that of Eva and Juan Perón three decades earlier. But unlike Evita, who held no elected post, the energetic and highly intelligent Fernández launched herself into an independent political career that quickly outshone that of her husband. While Kirchner rose to governor of his native province of Santa Cruz, Fernández became a senator, making a name for herself as a fiery anti-corruption legislator at the National Congress in Buenos Aires. The couple took the nation by storm with Kirchner’s surprise win in the 2003 presidential elections , a year after the worst economic crisis in the country’s history. Argentina had defaulted on a foreign debt of $132bn and the collapse carried away with it the fragmented remains of the middle-class Radical party, under whose rule the economy had run aground. The Radicals’ implosion left Kirchner’s Peronist party without competition in what had long been a two-party system.

“The Radicals had hurled Argentina off the cliff not once but twice,” said Steven Levitsky, professor of government and a Latin America specialist at Harvard. The party had led the country into a painful bout with hyperinflation in the late 1980s under a previous administration. “You leave the country in flames twice in a row and you’re going to be destroyed.” With the economy in tatters but with no viable opposition to question his bold tactics, Kirchner broke with the IMF, stood up to big business and bondholders and led the economy on a dramatic turnaround that felt nothing short of miraculous. The couple’s popularity ratings soared to over 70% and stayed there for years. In 2007, a surefire candidate for re-election, Kirchner stood aside and let his wife compete for the presidency instead. Pinterest Fernández walks in front of her husband, Nestor Kirchner after her inauguration in 2007. Photograph: Reuters The rest is history. Buoyed by solid approval ratings and a booming economy, Argentina’s first elected female president introduced generous social spending programmes that boosted her popularity even further.

The reforms included what may be her proudest achievement, a universal child benefit plan that has helped many families out of poverty and raised school attendance to peak levels. Her husband’s sudden death from heart failure in 2010 provoked an outpouring of public sympathy that only solidified her heart-to-heart relationship with a large segment of voters. In 2011 she easily won re-election, leaving rival candidates in the dust. Her identification with the poor has led young people to join Peronist youth groups by the thousands. To opponents, their fervour resonates with chilling authoritarian overtones, but supporters passionately proclaim their loyalty to the president. “Cristina for me signifies love for the humble,” says 16-year-old Valu Villagra, a secondary school student who joined the Movimiento Evita three years ago. “My life changed. Reality isn’t on television, it’s outside, on the street, in the neighbourhoods and with the people.” Valu participates in workshops for the prevention of violence against women. Her level of passion and personal sacrifice is shared by countless other young people similarly inspired to perform voluntary social work by a president referred to by almost everyone in Argentina by her first name.

Although Argentina’s economic performance has stalled at the tail end of Fernández’s second term, with inflation at 40%, economic growth stagnant and unemployment slowly rising, even orthodox economists are quick to concede that the economic legacy of 12 years of combined Kirchner-Fernández rule, with average growth between 3% and 4%, should look positive when she steps down from office in December. (The constitution bars her from seeking a third term in the elections slated for October.) “It’s a peculiar brand of populism because it isn’t leaving the country in debt,” said Nicolás Dujovne, an economist. “They’ve financed their social spending with inflation, not debt. Argentina will be in a much better situation than Spain or Portugal, countries with much larger debt problems.” Despite the economic feat, the president may be best remembered for the unenviable task of putting on trial the ageing perpetrators of Argentina’s last dictatorship, who made tens of thousands of young opponents “disappear” in death camps more than three decades ago.

Although the top echelon of the 1976-83 regime had been convicted in early trials after the return of democracy, lower-ranking killers and torturers remained free until 2003 when Kirchner overturned amnesty laws protecting them from prosecution. The new trials got off to a slow start and only went into full swing under Fernández. Today, more than 1,000 former officers are facing charges. “The genocidal killers are being tried up and down the country,” said Taty Almeyda, an 84-year-old mother whose son Alejandro Almeyda was one of the “disappeared”. The trials were long resisted by conservatives, including conservative Peronists, and have been the subject of some acrimony, especially from opponents of the president who accuse Fernández of using human rights to boost her popularity. “They still don’t forgive her for the trials,” said Almeyda. With her trademark confrontational nature, Fernández has shown herself willing to take on all comers.

She has confronted Britain in a verbal war over the Falkland Islands, is quick to blast the powerful holdout bond funds that placed Argentina in technical default last year, and has even attempted to dismantle the big media groups in Argentina that she insists are continually planning to oust her government, exposing herself to not entirely unfounded accusations of limiting freedom of the press. In doing so, she has herself eclipsed the solid economic and social advances that would otherwise stand to the fore. These include landmark achievements such as same-sex marriage, no small feat for a woman governing a country renowned for its virile machismo. But such obscured feats could count for nothing in the short term, after the lightning bolt of Nisman’s death seared a before-and-after line through her presidency, already plagued by abundant charges of corruption and authoritarianism. One former close aide remarked privately that the massive response to Nisman’s death had been so vehement, and the government’s handling of it so inept, that it could threaten her ability to hold on to office until December. Perhaps Fernández has suffered from too much of a good thing. “The collapse of the opposition and high growth rates gave Fernández a blank cheque,” said Levitsky, the Harvard professor.

“Nobody could say no to her, and if nobody can tell her she’s wrong, she’s going to make mistakes no matter how brilliant she is. Unilateral government often leads to abuse.” For her supporters, especially among the young, Fernández can do no wrong. “We support Cristina even in the hardest moments, such as the one we are going through now,” said 16-year-old Valu. The months ahead look bleak for the president, but for many Argentinians Fernández will continue to hold a place only slightly below that accorded Evita in the country’s political firmament. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner: a profile Born: February 19, 1953, La Plata Career: The daughter of a bus driver, she marries Néstor Kirchner at 22 in most significant political marriage since the Perons. Carves out her own political identity as anti-corruption MP at the National Congress in Buenos Aires. High point: Elected Argentina’s first woman president in 2007. She introduces a universal child benefit plan that helped many poor families.

Low point: Accused by Argentinian federal prosecutor of attempting to cover up Iran’s involvement in the bombing of a Jewish community centre in 1994. Four days later, Alberto Nisman is found dead. She says: “Memory and freedom must be everybody’s daily exercise in order to prevent a new holocaust and a renewed violation of human rights.” They say: “The president can’t walk with us, can’t look us in the eye, because she knows Alberto Nisman’s death has splattered her government with blood” – Pablo Lanusse, prosecutor. • The subheading on this article was amended on 23 February 2015. An earlier version said Fernández was Argentina’s first female leader. Profile: Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner - BBC News BBC News Profile: Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner 8 October 2013 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Cristina Fernandez: First woman elected and re-elected president in Argentina Following the announcement that Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is to undergo surgery, messages of support have been pouring in for the leader.

Political adversaries campaigning for the congressional election at the end of the month as well as leaders from the main political forces and regional foreign heads of state have wished her well in messages posted on Twitter. Her operation comes almost three years after the death of her husband and predecessor in the post, Nestor Kirchner. His death robbed President Fernandez of her closest political confidant. Together, they made a formidable team and were often described as Argentina's power couple. Ms Fernandez secured re-election as president of Argentina in October 2011 with a landslide victory. It was in many ways a dramatic turnaround for Ms Fernandez, whose first term had been beset by rows and low approval ratings. While still a popular figure among low-income families and rural Argentines, who have benefited from the government's social policies, Ms Fernandez's honeymoon with the urban middle class seems to be over now. In recent months, thousands have marched against rising prices, government restrictions on the purchase of US dollars, and high crime levels. 'Wives' duel' Cristina, as the majority of Argentines call her, has often been described as a strong-willed woman, obsessed with her image. But she is also a politician with a long track record.

She was born on 19 February 1953 in La Plata, the capital of the province of Buenos Aires, where she graduated in law. She married Mr Kirchner, whom she met at university, in 1975. A year later, the couple went to live in his home region, the southern province of Santa Cruz. At the end of the 1980s, she embarked on her political career, first as a provincial then as a national deputy. But it was her husband who rose through the ranks of the Peronist polictical movement. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Ther Kirchners influenced and advised each other In 1991, Mr Kirchner was elected governor of Santa Cruz. He won two more terms, while Ms Fernandez supported him as a deputy. When Mr Kirchner took office as president in 2003 - in the midst of one of the worst economic and social crises in the country - a similar pattern emerged. By then Cristina Fernandez was a senator with her own political weight in Congress, where she actively supported her husband's policies that included boosting social spending. Ms Fernandez cemented her political position in the congressional elections of 2005.

Taking 46% of the votes, she won in the province of Buenos Aires in a contest dubbed "the wives' duel", beating her main rival, Hilda Gonzalez, the wife of the former President Eduardo Duhalde (2002-2003). During Mr Kirchner's administration, there was almost no decision taken in which she did not have a say, her influence exceeding that of an ordinary lawmaker. She was also the first senator to have an office within the presidential palace, provoking criticism from the opposition. The governing party insisted that the office was small and was hers by virtue of her position as first lady. Continuity Occupying the presidential palace, the Casa Rosada, in her own right, President Fernandez has broadly continued her husband's policies. I have the honour to be the first woman to be re-elected in the country. What more could I want? Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, President of Argentina There have been further moves to address human rights abuses of the past. Argentina also became the first country in Latin America to legalise same-sex marriages. Under her, Argentina renewed contacts with the International Monetary Fund after years of hostility and moved to renew negotiations over paying Argentina's debts to the Paris Club of lender nations.

While Argentina has recovered from the economic woes of the early 2000s, there is persistent, and under-reported, high inflation and many Argentines still live in poverty. President Fernandez has also been frequently at odds with the nation's powerful agricultural sector. Cristina Fernandez has been, perhaps inevitably, compared to Eva Peron, Argentina's legendary first lady who formed a formidable ruling partnership with her husband Juan Domingo Peron in the late 1940s and early 50s. But Evita was never elected. Cristina Fernandez, by contrast, was the country's first elected female president. "I have the honour to be the first woman to be re-elected in the country. What more could I want," President Fernandez told supporters after her victory on 23 October . The Buenos Aires bomb, the Iranian allegations, and the accusations against Cristina Kirchner - Telegraph Argentina The Buenos Aires bomb, the Iranian allegations, and the accusations against Cristina Kirchner Alberto Nisman, the 51-year-old prosecutor who had spent a decade investigating Argentina's worst ever terrorist attack, has been found dead. But what is the story of the bombings, and 20 years of investigation?

Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor investigating the 1994 bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association community centre, has been found dead Photo: Natacha Pisarenko/AP Follow What happened in 1994? In the centre of Buenos Aires, a Renault van packed with over 600lbs of explosives was detonated on July 18 in front of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association, or AMIA – Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina. The building collapsed, killing 85 people and injuring over 300. It was the worst terrorist attack in Argentina 's history, and a terrible blow to South America's largest Jewish community. An estimated 300,000 Jewish people live in Argentina – the sixth largest Jewish population in the world. Firemen and policemen search for wounded people after a bomb exploded at the Argentinian Israelite Mutual Association in Buenos Aires, 18 July 1994 Related Articles 20 Jan 2015 Why did people suspect Iran? Two years before the AMIA bombing, the Islamic Jihad Organisation had claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, which killed 29.

The organisation is under the umbrella of Hizbollah, which receives weapons and funding from Iran . And in the world of intelligence there has been little question that Iran was behind both attacks. At the time, Tehran was furious over Buenos Aires' decision to cease all nuclear cooperation with Iran in 1992 for fear that Iran's nuclear programme was not limited to peaceful purposes. In 1994, Argentina terminated its nuclear cooperation. Iran was also carrying out a programme of targeted assassinations up until the late 1990s, according to Christopher Dickey, writing in The Daily Beast. He said that between 1987 and 1993, according to a French government memo published in a very detailed study called Le Hizbollah Global, some 18 opponents of the Tehran regime were murdered in Europe. The CIA estimated that between 1989 and 1996 the Hizbollah network carried out 200 serious attacks, costing hundreds of lives. However, Iran has always strongly denied being behind the attacks. And some US officials have publicly questioned whether there was evidence for Iranian involvement. President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad What did the government do?

When Nestor Kirchner – the late husband of the current president Cristina Kirchner– took power, in 2003, no one had been charged with the bombings. In 2005 he called the failure to bring anyone to justice "a national disgrace", and he then appointed Alberto Nisman to head up an investigation. Argentina in 2006 officially charged Hizbollah of carrying out the bombings, and a year later published a list of six Iranian individuals wanted in connection with the attacks – among them the former head of the Republican Guards, Ahmad Vahidi, who became Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's defence minister, and Mohsen Rabbani, the former cultural attache at the Iranian embassy in Argentina, who is considered to be the mastermind of the attack. Argentina's reelected President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner What has happened since? The current president, Ms Kirchner, took over La Casa Rosada – the Argentine presidential palace – in 2007. In 2009 Carlos Menem, who was president at the time of the attacks, was accused of allegedly covering up what was termed the "Syrian connection". Mr Menem is the son of Syrian immigrants.

In March 2012 he was ordered to stand trial – but no date was set. Standing trial beside him would be senior figures in Argentina's intelligence service – SIDE – accused of assisting the cover up of Iranian involvement, on Mr Menem's orders. But a year later, in 2013, Ms Kirchner announced that a joint Iranian-Argentine inquiry was to be held – something which infuriated many, who saw it as colluding with those who had carried out the bombings. The "truth commission" will be made up of five independent judges, none of whom will be from the two countries. But an Israeli spokesman said the move was tantamount to "inviting a murderer to investigate his own killings". Mr Nisman was deeply worried by the creation of the panel. Why was President Cristina Kirchner mentioned? At the time of the 2013 creation of the "truth commission", Argentina was in need of oil. Mr Nisman accused Ms Kirchner of cutting a deal with Iran to guarantee oil supplies and prop up the flailing economy, in return for favourable deals with Argentina's significant wheat crop. Mr Nisman said on Wednesday that he had "significant" evidence, obtained through wiretaps, of high-level conversations.

He asked that the details be made public – something which, hours after his death, the head of the security service agreed to. But despite his accusations, a former top Interpol official familiar with the 1994 bombing said on Friday that Mr Nisman’s accusations didn’t make sense given what he said was Argentina’s repeated and persistent efforts to resolve the case. Ronald Noble, who led Interpol from 2000 to 2014, said Argentine officials went to unusual efforts to ensure that Interpol maintained its “red notices,” or law enforcement alerts, that aim to help police around the world catch and arrest people wanted for crimes – like the six Iranians. “I can say with 100 per cent certainty, not a scintilla of doubt, that foreign minister [Héctor] Timerman and the Argentine government have been steadfast, persistent and unwavering that the Interpol’s red notices be issued, remain in effect and not be suspend or removed,” Mr Noble said. The Argentine government and Ms Kirchner said on Friday the accusations were "ridiculous", but have yet to comment on the accusations since his death. What was Nisman planning on saying?

As well as Ms Kirchner and Mr Timerman, Mr Nisman had accused others of being involved in the cover-up, including Andrés “the Crow” Larroque, a leader of the youth group La Cámpora with Ms Kirchner’s son Maximo, as well as radical pro-government activists, Luis D’Elía and Fernando Esteche. He had called for Ms Kirchner's assets to be frozen, and said that on Monday he would provide detail as to his findings. But he had not told anyone what the dossier contained, other than stating that he had uncovered "a scandal". Sergio Massa, a key contender for Argentina's presidency has called for repeal of the Memorandum of Understanding between Argentina and Iran What happens now? On Monday evening Oscar Parrilli, the head of the Secretariat of Intelligence (SI) – who was appointed by Ms Kirchner only a few weeks ago – approved, on presidential orders, the declassification of all information gathered by the intelligence services in the AMIA bombing investigation. Sergio Massa, a key contender for the presidential elections to be held this autumn, said that “a blood stain had descended upon local institutions".

He called for extraordinary sessions in Congress so the Memorandum of Understanding between Argentina and Iran – passed by both houses in 2013 – could finally be repealed. Victims of the bombings, plus Jewish groups and the Israeli foreign ministry, have all said that they hope Mr Nisman's work can continue. An investigation into his death has now been opened . Prosecutors have called for calm, and to await the verdict. But on social media many immediately - and without any evidence - accused the government of orchestrating the suicide. Others, meanwhile, saw the hand of Iran in his death. Argentina appeal revives cover-up case against president Argentina appeal revives cover-up case against president Paula Bustamante Argentine President Cristina Kirchner has been in office since 2007 (AFP Photo/Alejandro Pagni) More Buenos Aires (AFP) - Argentine prosecutors on Wednesday appealed a judge's decision to dismiss their case against President Cristina Kirchner for allegedly protecting Iranian officials accused of orchestrating a deadly 1994 bombing. Prosecutors are seeking to relaunch the case that was being brought by their late colleague Alberto Nisman, who died mysteriously after accusing Kirchner of shielding Iranians suspected of ordering the bombing at a Buenos Aires Jewish center.

Lead prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita argued in his 35-page appeal that Judge Daniel Rafecas was overly hasty in his decision last Thursday to throw out the case. "A criminal allegation of such unusual gravity and institutional impact as the one presented by Mr. Nisman demands every possible effort be made to reach the real truth of what happened," he wrote. "Faced with a premature ruling, there must be a new analysis of the evidence in the case and a broad review of the decision." The appeal will be considered by a higher court, the Federal Chamber, which must decide whether to appoint a judge and prosecutor to continue the investigation. If it rejects the appeal, the case will be closed unless new evidence emerges, said constitutional lawyers. Rafecas had assailed the prosecution's case in his ruling, saying that "none of the alleged crimes presented by Pollicita in his petition to the court are demonstrated in the least." The long-unsolved bombing at the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association killed 85 people and wounded 300. Nisman accused Iran of ordering the attack via Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Four days before his death on January 18, he filed a report accusing Kirchner, Foreign Minister Hector Timerman and other figures close to the government of protecting high-ranking Iranian officials, including former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, in exchange for oil and other trade benefits. Nisman was found dead in his Buenos Aires apartment of a gunshot wound to the head on the eve of congressional hearings where he was due to present his allegations about the president. Pollicita's team then took over the file and formally renewed his accusations. Since Nisman's death, initially labeled a suicide, suspicion has fallen on Kirchner's government of orchestrating his murder. The president has suggested the prosecutor was manipulated by disgruntled former intelligence agents who killed him to smear her. Kirchner has clashed with Argentina's intelligence establishment, sacking the top officials at the Intelligence Secretariat (SI) and introducing a bill to disband it that passed the legislature last week. - Embassy bombing scrutinized - The government took out ads in several local newspapers Wednesday accusing Nisman of trying to destabilize it. "With the case (against Kirchner) dismissed, we must ask ourselves what objectives Nisman was pursuing," said the ad.

"Is it possible to think of any other explanation than seeking to create political instability?" A separate controversy meanwhile swirled around another bombing, a 1992 attack outside the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 29 people and wounded 200. On Tuesday the Supreme Court's chief judge said the case had been closed since the court found in 1999 that members of Hezbollah carried out the attack. But no one was ever convicted and Kirchner has called for it to be reopened. "The case is not closed. There's no sentence. It's still open, we need to keep investigating," a top Kirchner aide, Anibal Fernandez, said. "In criminal law, the case is closed when there's at least one person charged, tried and convicted." The two attacks devastated Argentina's Jewish population, the largest in Latin America at about 300,000 people. Reblog

Question: Cristina Kirchner has been the President of which country since 2007?
Answer: ARGENTINA